Feed shortages cause drop in Moldovan egg production

Moldovan egg production in 2012 was 586 million, compared to 705 million in 2011 – a drop of 119 million, nearly 17%. According to experts the drop is due to mass slaughter of birds after the summer drought, which severely damaged feed production.

"Because of the lack of feed, farmers even slaughtered laying hens, and therefore decreased the production of eggs", said Vitaly Ciobanu, head of the Department of the market-oriented policies in the livestock sector under the Ministry of agriculture of the country. According to local media, the mass slaughter of not only chicken, but also pigs and cattle was mainly present in the north of Moldova, where the situation with feed supplies is especially difficult.

According to experts, the main reason for the feed shortage in poultry industry is that the government moved too late to support agricultural producers.

"The government should do what it takes so breeders could keep breeding. The same applies to small farms and those villagers, who keep only one cow, a couple of pigs, rabbits and poultry. They also need help ", said the former Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry, now the Chairman of the National Farmers Federation of Moldova, Valeriu Cosarciuc.

"We understand that the government is limited in funds, but it is quite real to exempt feed importers from value added tax. We already took such actions in the past and they were very efficient. However, this time the government did not go to meet our proposals as the well as the proposals of the other industry federations," he added.

According to statistics the country exported more than 10 million eggs this year, mostly to Iraq and Georgia. In total in Moldova there are about 20 poultry farms specialising in the production of eggs.